Larson Wows ‘Em With Late Race Run To Third In Chico Fall Nationals Chico, CA. October 1 and 3, 2009. With windy, ominous weather that produced a rubber down race track at the 18th Annual 360 Pacific Sprint Fall Nationals at Chico’s Silver Dollar Speedway Saturday night, prospects for Kyle Larson moving forward from his 12th place starting position did not look very good. Add in the fact that he was nursing a car that was subjected to a broken left front shock from the outset of the race, Larson was just trying to keep his mount headed in the right direction. But with a turn of events reminiscent of a NASCAR race, good fortune and a dose of talent allowed Larson to put on a scintillating late race finish by charging to a crowd pleasing third place finish. Larson’s Thursday night preliminary effort started on a high note with the second fast qualifying time of 35 cars pitted. After a third place finish in his heat race that transferred the 17 year old third year driver to the feature race Larson sat second in total points to Brent Kaeding. But when the six pill was drawn for the inversion for the two eight car dashes gradually things started to go the other way. On the opening lap of the dash sixth starting Larson hit a hole in turn one which broke the left front shock. Ducking into the pits Larson’s crew replaced the shock and he rejoined the field in eighth. A seventh place finish was all he could muster, leading to the 14th position on the starting grid for the A-main. During the 30 lapper on the somewhat narrow racing surface Larson was able to advance to eighth in the late going. However, when a yellow flag appeared with three laps to go Larson was worried about the over heated engine under the hood. When the green flag appeared Larson decided to not overstress his powerplant and was passed by three cars before the conclusion of the race. When the points for the night were tallied Larson stood sixth, and when points were added in from Friday’s preliminary field he was 12th overall. Saturday dawned with cold windy weather that was expected to produce less than ideal racing conditions. When the 40 lap feature race got underway there were already signs of rubber on various parts of the racing surface. As Larson fought the aforementioned shock problem that had repeated itself from the opening night, the track condition just made his tight handling car tighter. As Tyler Walker led from the outset in a fairly uneventful race, Larson made due the best he could just to get his mount as high as eighth. Near the halfway point tires suddenly became a very real issue as a handful of cars either had tires go down or shred. Finally, for safety reasons, the red flag was displayed with 23 laps down so that teams could assess tire wear. For Larson, this was just the break that his Vertullo Racing/ Starr Property Management/ Stadelhofer Construction mount needed. With a new shock and right rear tire in place Larson was about to energize the crowd who had witnessed, up to that point, a pretty lackluster race. Of the front running cars Walker was the only to replace right rear rubber and relinquished the lead to Thursday’s winner, Sean Becker. When the field was reset for the restart the front 11 cars had chosen to chance it with the rubber they began the race with, while the rest had new tires mounted. Walker restarted 12th, with Greg DeCaires and Larson trailing. When the race resumed Larson still seemed to be fighting a very tight condition on his race car and dropped to 15th when Jonathan Allard got by. However, on lap 26 Larson’s tire came to life and his Dave Vertullo tuned setup became the best on the track as he sped by both Allard and DeCaires. Billy Wallace was able to fend off Larson for the next four laps, but once the 83v machine got by it was full speed ahead. In short order Larson blasted by Walker, Dan Menne, Kyle Hirst, Andy Gregg, Mike Henry, Brett Miller, Jason Statler, and Bobby McMahan, accomplishing it all in a mere seven laps. Once in third, and with a clear track, Larson began to quickly chase down Becker and Kaeding over the final three laps. Although he clearly had the fastest car on the track, the resident of Elk Grove, California ran out of time while camped on Kaeding’s rear bumper at the checkered flag. Becker, the two time defending 360 Civil War Series champion, was able to hold on for his first ever victory in the Fall Nationals. When the trio appeared on the front stretch for victory lane interviews Larson was greeted with a rousing round of applause by the appreciative crowd that was worthy of a winner. Asked his thoughts, Larson replied with a smile “I wish we would have had a yellow with about five more laps in this race because I knew I had more tire than they did. We made a good choice making the tire change during the red flag and all I needed was a couple of more laps, but I really want to congratulate Sean on the win, he had a great season.” Larson’s racing efforts are sponsored by Starr Property Management, Inc., Stadelhofer Construction, Phoenix ParkerStores and Lubrication Equipment and Supply Co., Wion’s Body Shop and Powdercoating, A.R.T. Speed Equipment, G & N Construction, JW Web Design, Safety Solutions-LFT Technologies, Simpson Performance Products, Wyman Construction, GME-Nields Steerings, LRB Manufacturing, SWEPCO Lubricants, Edward’s Lawn Service, Sierra Tire and Wheel, Mancamp Motorsports, and Mophead Graphix. Check out www.kylelarsonracing.com for video clip, current news and information. Race: October 1 & 3, 2009 Photos Courtesy Steve LaMothe